King’s Fork High School’s football has opened its seasons with blowout wins the last couple of years, but Friday’s season-opening victory was a bit different.

“They showed me a lot of heart and guts tonight,” Bulldogs coach Joe Jones said of his players.

The game against host Smithfield High School was locked in a 10-10 tie at halftime before King’s Fork asserted itself in the second half, taking a comfortable 24-10 lead with 6:20 remaining the game.

But then the Packers showed some grit of their own, making it 24-17 with 1:48 to go on a 74-yard touchdown catch-and-run by junior wide receiver Chris Pierce. Then, they successfully recovered the ensuing onside kick.

“We had things wrapped up, we just have finish a little better,” Jones said.

Smithfield drove to the Bulldogs’ one-yard line, but an interception in the end zone by senior defensive back Quadarius Boyd helped King’s Fork hold on for the win.

“They threw the fade to their best guy, and we had our most experienced corner on him, and he did a good job getting the ball away,” Jones said.

“That’s a character win there.”

The Bulldogs achieved it without their star feature back, senior Deshaun Wethington, who was sidelined with a minor injury he suffered in practice on Wednesday.

“Those guys know I’m not going to take a chance with them health-wise,” Jones said.

In Wethington’s place, King’s Fork relied on the talents of sophomore feature back Darran Butts, who carried the ball 24 times for 104 yards and three touchdowns.

Butts said, “It was my line, for real, for real, because they were doing all the blocking for me, and when they were blocking, I (saw) the hole, and I just hit, and that’s how I scored all my touchdowns. If it weren’t for them, none of this would happen.”

Butts gained momentum as the game wore on, shaking off jitters of his first game with a new team while listening to instructions from coaches and Wethington to lower his shoulders as he ran. Jones said Butts looked like a different back starting at the end of the second quarter.

The first quarter was nearly scoreless as both offenses were thwarted by turnovers, but both teams did a lot with the last 30 seconds of the period.

Butts scored from one yard out with 27 seconds to go, but Smithfield responded quickly with a 73-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Nick Turner to senior wideout Aaron Williams.

Penalties helped kill King’s Fork’s next drive and were frequently an issue during the game.

“We’ve just got to keep coaching them up and keep working and getting better at that,” he said.

He was pleased with his defense’s performance for most of the night, as it held the Packers to six yards rushing, but gave up 314 yards passing.

Smithfield used some big pass plays to fuel a second-quarter drive that appeared destined to put it up by seven, but a King’s Fork goa-line stand held the Packers to a field goal and a 10-7 lead.

The Bulldogs put together a drive that led to a tying field goal.

The teams punted back and forth to each other for much of the third quarter until Quadarius Boyd ended a Smithfield drive with an interception that gave his team the ball at the Packer 29.

Butts scored his second touchdown soon thereafter.

Impressive defense by KF senior defensive end Cullen Marshall and senior outside linebacker Terry Tubbs helped set up Butts’ final touchdown.

King’s Fork has a bye on Friday and hosts Hickory High School on Sept. 11.